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HiT Entertainment
HIT Entertainment Ltd. (styled "HiT") is a British–American entertainment company owned by Mattel and originally established in 1983 from Henson International Television (formerly styled "hit!"). It was founded as the international distribution arm of Jim Henson Productions. HIT owns and distributes children's television series, including the shows Barney & Friends, Bob the Builder, Thomas & Friends, Fireman Sam, Angelina Ballerina, and Mike the Knight.4 History Independent era (1983-2005) In 1983, the Jim Henson Television company founded Henson International Television as a distribution company for their children's television.needed Jim Henson Productions started negotiations with The Walt Disney Company regarding a possible purchase of the company in the late 1980s. Because of these negotiations, Henson International Television head Peter Orton led a management buyout of the Henson International Television division from Henson in 1989, forming a new company named HiT Entertainment.1 HiT continued distributing programming by initially signing Postman Pat and Alvin & the Chipmunks series. The company then financed and distributed Wind in the Willows and the Peter Rabbit animated features. In 1990, Flextech took a 23% share in HiT for about £600,000. The HiT Wildlife division was soon set up to produce nature and wildlife programming which provided the company with 35% of its revenue by the mid-1990s.1 HiT also handled international distribution for Lyrick Studios' Barney & Friends. With the success of Barney, HiT began to develop its own programming for the pre-school market. By 1996, HiT was listed on the AIM to raise funding to develop these programs. HiT used the funding to launch HiT Video that produced direct to video programming in the UK only. Bob the Builder was one such character that HiT purchased its TV series rights.1 With another offering in 1997, HiT increased its capitalization and move to the primary London Stock Exchange. HIT used this funding to develop Brambly Hedge, Percy the Park Keeper, and Kipper, which became its first hit on ITV.1 In 1998, HIT formed its own animation production company, HOT Animation, Katherine Yung and Julie Hinds, and its Consumers Product Division. Also, BBC signed on as the broadcaster for Bob the Builder. HiT signed a series of USA broadcasting deal starting with Nickelodeon for Kipper and expanded to Starz/Encore (Brambly Hedge and Percy the Park Keeper series), HBO Family (Anthony Ant cartoon series) and Animal Planet channel (Wylands Ocean World wildlife program). Kipper also won the 1998 BAFTA award for Best Children's Animation. To end the year, HIT offered another group of shares.1 HIT opened 1999 with 10 first run TV series in the USA and started its consumer products USA subsidiary. In April, Bob the Builder debuted on the BBC as a hit. In July, the company made another public offering of stock. A USA deal for Bob was signed in December with Nickelodeon to start airing in January 2001. Mattel signed a five-year licensing agreement for its development Angelina Ballerina series.1 In January 2000, the company split its share five-for-one. HiT which has been looking for an acquisition for a while began talks with Thomas the Tank Engine owner, Britt Allcroft early that year, but fell apart as they could not agree on a price. Bob the Builder continued its success with the number one record in December.1 HiT acquired Lyrick Studios in February 2001 while selling Lyrick's money losing publishing operations and extending its Barney-PBS deal. In May, Bob the Builder video launched while the company signed a deal with Sears to have "Bob Shops" in the retail's stores. With the Henson Company's owner EM.TV in financial trouble over its purchase of 50% share in Formula One racing rights, HiT joined a number of companies willing to purchase Henson.1 In October 2001, HiT's bid for Pingu BV was accepted.5 In April 2002, HIT Entertainment sold their HIT Wildlife division to the newly-formed Parthenon Entertainment, which was owned by the former managing director of Hit Wildlife, Carl Hall. 30 hours of programming in production and its 300-hour library was transferred over in the Management buyout agreement.6 After two years of bids from HiT, Gullane Entertainment's board agreed to be purchased by HiT in 2002 when no white knight could be found.7 In August 2002, HIT Entertainment Canada, Inc. official opened its office in Toronto.3 In March 2003, CCI Entertainment acquired HiT's stake in CCI (part of the Gullane Purchase) and Gullane library rights in Canada.8 On April 1, 2004, the company and The Jim Henson Company agreed to a five-year global distribution and production deal which included distribution of 440 hours of the Henson Company's remaining library include Fraggle Rock, Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, The Hoobs puppets and the Jim Henson's Mother Goose Stories.9 While firing its chief executive Rob Lawes in October 2004, the company announced its launching of PBS Kids Sprout with partners PBS, Comcast and Sesame Workshop.10 Private corporation (2005-2012) In 2005, Apax Partners took HiT private purchasing the company for £489.4 million11 with former BBC director general Greg Dyke becoming chairman.2 In 2006, HiT closed its DVD sales and distribution arm in the US and contracted with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment for DVD distribution.2 HiT continues to sell and distribute its own DVD content in the UK. In September 2007, the corporation and Chellomedia formed a join venture to run JimJam children's channel.12 In 2008, HiT hired Jeff Dunn, formerly of Nickelodeon, as chief executive and moved DVD distribution to Lionsgate Home Entertainment. Dunn move the company to create new characters, including Mike the Knight, and revitalise existing brands.2 In February, HiT sold Guinness World Records brand, acquired with Gullane, to Ripley Entertainment.13 In March 2009, HiT Entertainment started its HiT Movies division based in Los Angeles with Julia Pistor as division head to create movies based on the company's franchises.14 In early 2010, HiT licensed Thomas & Friends to Mattel for toys.15 By August, the company withdrew from the JimJam joint venture but would continue providing programming.16 In April 2011, Apax put HiT up for sale with option to sell the company in two parts Thomas & Friends franchise and the other HiT characters with its Kids Sprout stake with either parts or separately. Expected bidders were Disney, Viacom, Mattel, Hasbro, Classic Media (now DreamWorks Classics), Chorion and Saban Brands.11 By April 2011, Fireman Sam was revitalised enough to be a Top 10 UK best-selling character toy according to NPD Group.2 Mattel subsidiary (2012-present) Apax Partners group agreed to sell HiT Entertainment to Mattel in October 2011 for $680 million. Its share of Sprout was not included in the deal.1517 The sale/merger was completed on February 1, 2012, and HIT Entertainment became a wholly owned subsidiary of Mattel,18 managed under its Fisher-Price unit.19 The Mike the Knight show aired on CBeebies later in the year.2 HiT announced a home video deal with Universal Pictures Home Entertainment on May 2, 2014.20 In early summer 2015, Edaville USA amusement park opened a licensed Thomas Land theme area based on Thomas & Friends.19 In March 2016, Hit was transferred to Mattel Creations division, a division created to bring all content creation units together under Mattel’s Chief Content Officer Catherine Balsam-Schwaber.21 HiT Entertainment and Big Idea In 2001, HiT took over distribution of Lyrick Studios' video portfolio, including Barney, Bob the Builder, Kipper, The Wiggles, and VeggieTales. During this period, they released five VeggieTales VHS' and re-designed their web-store under their name, and renamed the store hitstoreusa.com. However, the original Lyrick Studios web address is still valid under the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Phil Vischer heard of HiT upon hearing that Lyrick was going to be sold to it, and knew that because HiT was British and Lyrick was American, Christian media, which was more American than HiT's own brands, would sell (and be known to them) weak. One of HiT's executives said that the company was no longer interested with working with brands they did not own anymore, and they would be buying, building, and managing the properties they did own worldwide. Dick Leach's death further concerned Big Idea's thought of letting HiT distribute VeggieTales videos. According to Vischer, fueled by his death and HiT now losing interest with working with companies that they did not own, "Bob & Larry were destined to become unloved stepchildren at HiT, picking up whatever table scraps were left after the "true children" had eaten their fill" (this, however, did not stop Fraggle Rock videos to be distributed by HiT after this event happened, said show being owned by the Jim Henson Company, who, unlike Big Idea, sold the home video rights to most of their remaining works to them after selling the Muppets to Disney). Big Idea had noticed this dynamic being done before with Lyrick staff letting them accompany their sales calls; regardless of whether each video got more sales, Barney would still get more attention, and VeggieTales would get even less attention. This, to them, would worsen had they let HiT distribute their videos. They eventually let WEA distribute their brands' videos for the mass market instead of HiT, the former company having no children's properties. As a result of this, HiT filed a lawsuit against Big Idea in court, claiming breach of contract. By the end of 2002, HiT's lawsuit had cost Big Idea $2 million in legal fees, with more money on the way. Settling their unresolved lawsuit against the now-defunct Lyrick and its buyer became the company's highest priority, and as they tried their hardest to preserve money, many of their projects were either cancelled or postponed indefinitely. Big Idea's eventual changes were able to save them some money, but HiT would still not budge, and when they explained to the company's CEO as a last resort, they offered them this money as a last ditch settlement offer. They eventually confessed that if the suit went to court and HiT won, Big Idea would be forced into bankruptcy and Lyrick would have to "get in line with the other creditors". They were losing money quick, and HiT, still not wanting to settle the lawsuit, scheduled the case for April of 2003. In April, Vischer went to Dallas and went to federal court to settle their unresolved suit immediately. Two women, identifying themselves as fans of VeggieTales, confessed that Big Idea wouldn't have done anything wrong and were thrown out of the room. Vischer's job was to look interested during the trial, and by next week, he would be told not to act bored and not do what he did when he arrived. The court proceedings themselves vacillated between painful and aggravating, and Lyrick's lawyer made him furious enough to scream back at him until realizing that he had to do what he was told. In the end, Lyrick's argument boiled down to, even though a contract between HiT and Big Idea hadn't been signed or fully agreed on, acknowledging that copyright law precludes the transfer of any rights without a signed document, insisting there was a binding agreement between them and Big Idea based on the original offer letter that bore their president's signature and a return correspondence from one of Vischer's employees that carried his signature on a fax cover sheet. Despite what the letter said, Lyrick argued that their letter and fax cover sheet consituted their binding relationship. Furthermore, according to them, even though the unsigned draft agreement said that they were permitted to leave hadn't they approved of a replacement for Dick Leach or a new owner, the lawyer pointed out that the words "approval which Big Idea will not unreasonably withhold". Big Idea noted that they didn't agree to a phrase this vague (which was one of many reasons why the agreement wasn't signed and was under negotiation), causing Lyrick to go for broke; they said that Big Idea didn't walk away because of their hatred for HiT, they being a perfectly acceptable partner, or that Peter Orton, HiT's chairman, was not an acceptable Dick Leach replacement -- they walked away just so they could earn more money. They could have accepted HiT's purchase of Lyrick, but "unreasonably withheld that approval". Recognizing that VHS sales were declining quickly and damages from lost VHS sales would be minimal, Lyrick argued that Big Idea had given them the rights to release their VHS' on DVD, though the draft contract stated otherwise. They eventually pulled out the DVD(s) they had released in order to test audience interest in the new format, and highlighting their logo on the back cover, said that they were given the DVD rights to VeggieTales. After four more questions determining the fate of what Vischer had done for the last 14 years leading up to the trial, Big Idea returned to court to hear the responses. As a result, the gavel awarded Lyrick with $11 million in damages, promising them they would make Big Idea DVDs from now on, flabbergasting Big Idea's lawyers and disappointing the lead lawyer, who was horrified by the loss. As a result of this, Big Idea nearly went defunct and was close to becoming history before being purchased by Classic Media (now a part of DreamWorks Animation SKG). Category:Larry Boy And The Angry Eyebrows Category:Heroes Of The Bible! Category:321 Penguins! The Amazing Carnival of Complaining Category:Classics From The Crisper Category:The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown